I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR therapist, and Somatic Experiencing therapist. My focus tends to be mind-body oriented psychotherapy. See my profile for more info. This site is not intended as a substitute for psychotherapy. No client-counselor relationship exists between the user and the owner of this site. To set up a consultation with me please call (212) 726-1006. All material on this site is copyrighted and cannot be used without permission.

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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Finding Moments of Peace During Stressful Times

When you're under a lot of stress, it's easy to forget that you can often find moments of peace. Taking a few moments to yourself to take a deep breath and as you're breathing, letting go of the tension you're feeling inside with each breath that you take, can be such a relief.

Finding Moments of Peace During Stressful Times

Remembering to Breathe and Let Go
Breathing out the tension doesn't get rid of the problem, but it can allow you to decompress, if only for a short time. By decompressing, you'll often discover that you can approach your problem with a clear mind. You might even think more creatively about your problem and approach the problem in a different way than you might have not have before.

Even if your stress is related to a problem that isn't easily solved, it doesn't do you any good to hold on to a lot of extra tension that makes your body feel tight and creates chaos in your mind.

Letting go can seem like the opposite of what you think you should be doing during stressful times. You might feel that you have to continue to try to continuously hold on, worry, and mull over the problem in every possible way all of the time.

It's understandable that you might feel this way. But letting go, even momentarily, doesn't stop you from going back to the problem later and working on it. You don't have to work on it 24/7. Often, that's counterproductive.

It's easy to forget the simple things you can do to reduce stress because it can feel futile to try to do things that can "only" help you momentarily. You can become so fixated on solving the entire problem that you forget it's important to take breaks to have peaceful moments in the midst of a storm.

Square Breathing to Help You to Relax
In a prior blog post, I recommended a particular technique called Square Breathing (see link below). Square Breathing is a simple technique. I've worked with many clients who knew nothing about Square Breathing before I taught them how to do it, but who were able to learn it quickly. It takes very little time, and it can relax you physically, mentally and emotionally.

Creating an Increasing Sense of Inner Peace
As you create each moment of peace for yourself, you might find that you're better able to cope with whatever stressful situation that you're facing.

You might find that these moments of peace, which you create for yourself, can give you a greater sense inner confidence to deal with the stressful situation. And, since stress is a normal part of life, developing better ways to cope and a stronger sense of self confidence can be an important gif t that you give yourself.